Latest news with #Milliken
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Introducing Borchi® Dragon Low VOC high-performance catalyst
New offering from Milliken & Company's Borchers coating additives brand delivers outstanding drying performance SPARTANBURG, S.C., May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Borchers, a Milliken & Company brand and global leader in advanced coating additives, is proud to introduce Borchi® Dragon Low VOC, a high-performance catalyst designed to offer formulators a drying solution for alkyd coatings that is low in Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) content. Borchi® Dragon Low VOC can provide outstanding drying performance while aiming to meet evolving VOC regulations in solvent borne and solvent-free alkyd formulations. As a manganese-based solution, the product is also designed to be free of cobalt, which faces regulatory scrutiny in several regions. "We are committed to delivering additive options like Borchi® Dragon Low VOC that help meet current labeling requirements and future-proof from potential regulations in final coating formulations," said Jeff Losch, vice president and coating additives business manager at Milliken. "This focus aligns with Milliken & Company's commitment to sustainability, which has earned the company a gold EcoVadis rating for three consecutive years." Borchi® Dragon Low VOC contains only 2% VOC content based on ASTM D2369 standards and can help formulators reduce VOCs without sacrificing drying speed, even in challenging ambient conditions. Additionally, the catalyst offers a higher flash point (enabling safer handling), reduced yellowing, and better hardness when compared to low-VOC alternative driers. Borchi® Dragon Low VOC is up to 92% biobased carbon, as determined by ASTM D6866-24 B standards. VOCs can be released from paint in room-temperature conditions even after the paint has dried. Governments worldwide, including those in the United States and European Union, have implemented regulations to lower VOC levels in coatings to help protect public health. Traditionally, cobalt driers are added to alkyd formulations to accelerate cure times. However, the use of cobalt compounds in coatings has also faced regulatory scrutiny due to health toxicity concerns, being classified as a Category 1B carcinogen in the European Union and currently under evaluation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Borchi® Dragon Low VOC is an excellent addition to Borchers' comprehensive range of cobalt-free high-performance catalysts, which includes Borchi® OXY-Coat iron-based driers for a variety of alkyd formulations. Other cobalt-free solutions include the new Borchi® Phoenix accelerator that is designed to enhance drier performance in high solids and solventborne alkyd coatings. For more information about Borchi® Dragon Low VOC and other advanced solutions, visit About MillikenMilliken & Company is a global manufacturing leader whose focus on materials science delivers tomorrow's breakthroughs today. From industry-leading molecules to sustainable innovations, Milliken creates products that enhance people's lives and deliver solutions for its customers and communities. Drawing on thousands of patents and a portfolio with applications across the textile, flooring, chemical and healthcare businesses, the company harnesses a shared sense of integrity and excellence to positively impact the world for generations. Discover more about Milliken's curious minds and inspired solutions at and on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. About BorchersBorchers, a Milliken brand, is a global leader in high-performance additives for the coatings industry. Borchers is dedicated to developing coating additives that meet evolving market demands through innovation, technical expertise, and customer-centric collaboration. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Milliken & Company
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
How proposed federal SNAP cuts would harm New Hampshire
Advertisement Right now, the federal government pays for 100 percent of the state's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as 'food stamps' – $154 million in fiscal year 2024, according to the Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up People with low income who are eligible get a benefits card, and they can use money loaded onto the card toward the cost of groceries each month. The bill would require states to pay 5 percent to 25 percent of those benefits, and states that made more errors, such as overpayments or underpayments, would have to pay a higher percentage. Advertisement In 2023, New Hampshire's error rate was 12.53, according to the But Laura Milliken, executive director at New Hampshire Hunger Solutions, said it's very unlikely New Hampshire would be able to come up with that kind of money. 'There's no question that there would be cuts,' she said. Milliken's organization estimates that tens of thousands of Granite Staters would lose access to SNAP if the federal proposal is approved. The federal spending bill would also require states to pay 75 percent of the administrative costs of SNAP, up from 50 percent. In 2023, the overall cost of administering SNAP in New Hampshire was $22 million, according to the 'It's just so disturbing at a time when the cost of living is squeezing us all,' Milliken said of the proposed federal cuts. 'SNAP has been our country's first line of defense against hunger for 60 years. We should be strengthening those programs, not taking them away.' This article first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you'd like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, Amanda Gokee can be reached at
Los Angeles Times
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Top Chef's' Kristen Kish doesn't hesitate to talk about kitchen sexism in her new memoir
Here's Looking at You's Lien Ta talks about the death of chef Jonathan Whitener, chef Jonathan Gil talks about running a restaurant with Stage IV cancer, and the chef trying to get as many Angelenos as possible to try Sri Lankan food. Also, our nominees for the James Beard Media Awards. I'm Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week's Tasting Notes. Nearly every female chef I've met hates to talk about being a female chef. Just, chef, please. It's a stance that Dominique Crenn asserted when she won the World's 50 Best Restaurants' award for 'world's best female chef' in 2016. 'She famously called it 'stupid,'' Heather Platt wrote last year in this paper of Crenn's feelings about her award. ''A chef is a chef.'' Even with the stories of yelling, groping and much worse behavior emerging since the #MeToo reckoning, the knowledge that the stresses of the industry also take a toll on men has conditioned some of us to believe that while women may not have an easy time in the business, they can still advance in the industry if they are tough enough. Here in Los Angeles, after all, it's not hard to name female chefs who lead their own restaurants, including Socalo's Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, n/naka's Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama, A.O.C.'s Suzanne Goin, Mozza's Nancy Silverton, Playa Provision's Brooke Williamson, Jar's Suzanne Tract, Kismet's Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson, Highly Likely's Kat Turner and many, many more than the handful of veterans who were making their way to the top during the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Indeed, some of the war stories we've frequently heard about women in restaurant kitchens have a quaint quality. In 1983, Ruth Reichl wrote a feature story for California magazine that began with the story of Milliken's first attempt (ultimately successful) to work at Chicago's Le Perroquet. 'Jovan Trboyevic, the owner, said he would never hire a pretty girl like me — it would cause chaos in the kitchen,' Milliken told Reichl. 'He offered me a job as a hat check girl instead.' By the time current 'Top Chef' host Kristen Kish was establishing herself in Chicago and Boston restaurants, 'hat check girl' was a job associated with black-and-white movies, not actual restaurant work. So I took notice when Kish, in her new memoir 'Accidentally On Purpose,' devoted the better part of a chapter to the disrespect she received in a male-dominated kitchen after she won Season 10 of 'Top Chef' in 2013. It was so bad that less than a year after attaining what she'd thought of as her dream job — chef de cuisine at a fine-dining destination restaurant, Boston's now-closed Menton — she quit. We're talking about a chef who proved to be the epitome of calm and unflappability in the midst of reality TV drama during her season as a 'Top Chef' contestant and the ultimate team player when she declined to blame a fellow contestant for the dish that led to Kish being eliminated from the competition. (Kish worked her way back into the game she ultimately won thanks to her cooking on 'Last Chance Kitchen.') She's also rappelled down a waterfall to harvest watercress in Panama for the National Geographic series 'Restaurants at the End of the World.' The irony is that Menton, Boston's first Relais & Châteaux restaurant, was a woman-owned restaurant. It was one of several businesses overseen by the hospitality company founded by Barbara Lynch, who was forced to close all of her restaurants last year because of a number of factors, including the fallout from a 2023 investigation of workplace abuse by New York Times reporter Julia Moskin. In her book, Kish does not question any of the accounts of employees who shared their stories with Moskin and others in the press about their boss (the incidents detailed appear to have happened after Kish left the company in 2014). Still, she views Lynch as a supportive mentor who gave her credit for dishes she created and was the one to suggest her as a contestant to 'Top Chef's' producers. Instead, Kish blames her issues in Menton's kitchen on the ungenerous attitudes of her male colleagues (while emphasizing that she has 'worked with many wonderful men over the years') and on a corporate decision to give her the top job at Menton without the power to make menu changes and subjecting her to a 'training period.' 'Barbara, along with the company's director of operations and its wine director — both of whom were women — were pulling for me to have the job' after 'Top Chef,' she wrote in the book. 'But there were also two men in the upper echelon of the organization who were not in agreement and didn't buy that I was ready for it.' The experience was the opposite of what Kish had experienced at another of Lynch's restaurants, the 10-seat Stir, where the menu changed nightly with the seasons and the chefs cooked as they talked and joked with customers across the counter — great training for her 'Top Chef' run. Yet at Menton, without the full support of the company, 'the team, mostly men,' Kish writes, felt free to be 'recalcitrant at best and more often perniciously undermining. ... Sometimes I was disregarded or ignored. ... Later, on my rare days off or when I was traveling ... they were changing dishes without my knowledge. ... It was a sort of psychological warfare for which I wasn't prepared. Not a single cell in my body wanted to engage in this kind of ... conflict.' Among the untrue rumors she heard about herself was that the only reason she had the Menton job was because she was having an affair with Lynch. 'I don't know if one of the male chefs from the company would have walked back into something like that,' Kish told me onstage when I interviewed her and 'Top Chef' head judge Tom Colicchio at last month's L.A. Times Festival of Books. 'They probably would have been praised and celebrated. There were people who wanted my position and my job. And I don't think [many] at the top echelon of the restaurant actually thought I was going to do well.' Then there was the time she and Lynch went to a gathering in London for Relais & Châteaux restaurants and encountered a male chef who bluntly told Kish, 'You're too pretty to be a chef.' Suddenly, the gulf between Kish and Milliken decades earlier wasn't so vast. Kish writes that Lynch instantly scolded the male chef for his insult: 'She told him in no uncertain terms to get ... out of there and leave us alone. And while I felt protected, it also made me sad. It was very clear that this was something Barbara had probably been dealing with her whole career. There was almost a rote reaction that many women in many fields would likely recognize — one they needed to cultivate in order to survive and succeed. Always playing defense, working harder, stirring up responses to pull out when some entitled overbearing dude shows up, seeming to think he matters more.' Of course, Kish's story has a happy ending. Leaving Menton could have ended her career as a chef since she was getting so many offers to appear on television ('Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend,' 'Fast Foodies' and 'Restaurants at the End of the World'), something she is very good at. But she now oversees the restaurant Arlo Grey by Kristen Kish in Austin, while balancing life with her wife, Bianca Dusic, and hosting duties on Bravo's 'Top Chef.' I'll have more to share from my conversation with Kish and Colicchio in next week's newsletter. Meanwhile, here's what else has been happening ... During a wide-ranging interview with Food's Stephanie Breijo, restaurateur Lien Ta, the founder of Here's Looking at You, shared how mentally exhausting the restaurant business can be after revealing this week that she is closing her Koreatown restaurant on June 13. Of course, the slow pandemic recovery and erratic business after the recent fires factored into her decision, but it was the sudden death last year of her co-founder, the chef Jonathan Whitener, that weighed most on Ta. 'Eating his food,' Ta told Breijo, 'lifted my soul. ... The truth is that I created this restaurant with Jonathan, and he's eternally my collaborator. The remaining team are all in agreement that we want this to remain Jonathan's restaurant. We are missing our leader. Signing on for another five-year lease doesn't make sense when your leader is gone.' Ta also talked about the 'horrible dread' she felt at times 'wondering if anyone was going to book a reservation or come in at all, and who we were going to cut [from service].' 'I was definitely buried in a lot of grief,' she added. 'Sometimes I wasn't really sure what to focus on this last year, to be honest … a lot of restaurant owners are sort of programmed to always find solutions, to get through the day or the week or whatever your metric is. I've been doing that for a long time.' Breijo also had an intense conversation with chef Joshua Gil, who has Stage IV cancer and is in a contract dispute with his his former Mírame and Mírate business partner, but still recently was able to transform a strip-mall Mongolian barbecue restaurant into a Baja-style seafood spot called Three Flames with 'tacos, burgers, loaded fries and some of the city's most creative new tostadas and specials' while keeping the Mongolian barbecue. 'I'm a very stubborn a—,' Gil told Breijo. 'I like telling people, 'I'm Mexican. I don't know how to give up.'' One concession to his illness is that he is leaning hard on Anthony Rodriguez, who worked with Gil at Mírame and Mírate. 'These days he sees Rodriguez as the chef,' Breijo wrote, 'and himself as a cook who sometimes creates recipes.' 'I've been sitting with our identities: who we are, our images of who we are,' Gil said. 'I haven't donned the [chef's] whites in a long time, and yet I'm still referred to as 'chef.' We never lose that. It doesn't matter how away from the kitchen you are. You're constantly being called 'chef' by those that know you as such, and it's [hard] holding on to that livelihood, that lifestyle.' Nominations for the James Beard Media Awards, covering books, broadcast media and journalism, were announced on Wednesday. Among the many excellent cookbooks and broadcast, video and audio shows nominated is 'The SalviSoul Cookbook: Salvadoran Recipes and the Women Who Preserve Them' by L.A.'s Karla Tatiana Vasquez. As former Food reporter Cindy Carcamo wrote in her profile of Vasquez last year, 'SalviSoul' is 'the first-ever Salvadoran cookbook to appear on a Big Five imprint.' Food editor Daniel Hernandez talked with Vasquez after news of the nomination came out for our Cooking newsletter, which will publish tomorrow. (Subscribe for free here.) We also received the happy news that three of our own Food journalists are nominated for Beard awards. Restaurant critic Bill Addison is nominated in the dining and travel category for his recent guide to dining in San Francisco. Food's senior editor Danielle Dorsey is nominated in the home cooking category for her story 'The warmth of Black traditions around the Thanksgiving table.' And columnist Jenn Harris is up for the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Criticism Award. Her nominated stories are reviews of Sophy's Cambodian restaurant in Long Beach and Star Leaf in Pasadena, plus a column on why chili crisp and chili crunch are terms that should not be trademarked. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Chicago on June 14.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UT System chancellor leaves to lead University of California
University of Texas System Chancellor JB Milliken will leave the 256,000-student system to take a new out-of-state position as University of California president, system officials said Friday. "We are fortunate to have had Chancellor Milliken at the helm of the UT System for almost seven years,' said UT System Regents' Chair Kevin P. Eltife in a statement. 'The board and I are grateful for our close and very productive relationship with him, and we are proud of what we accomplished together. He has led the UT System admirably and innovatively." Milliken was appointed as UT System chancellor in 2018 after spending years as chancellor for City University of New York, and has also served as president of the University of Nebraska. Milliken was named the new president of the University of California on Friday, and will enter that role in August, according to statements from UC and the UT System. John Zerwas, the University of Texas System's executive vice chancellor for health affairs and a former Republican member of the Texas House, will serve as acting chancellor when Milliken leaves in June, according to a news release from the UT System. Zerwas, who is a doctor, retired from the Legislature in 2019 after seven terms in the House, at one point serving as chair of the budget-writing House Appropriations committee. Eltife praised Zerwas' work as vice chancellor and his ability to strengthen partnerships between UT and health institutions. 'We continue to have the benefit of Dr. Zerwas' long and distinguished service in the Texas Legislature as a higher education advocate and budget expert,' Eltife said. Milliken's exit is not the only pre-summer leadership shakeup at UT and other major Texas universities.. Jim Davis, former UT chief operating officer, was appointed as interim president of the University of Texas at Austin campus in February, months before former president Jay Hartzell indicated he would step down for a new role as Southern Methodist University's next president. Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp, the university's longest-serving chancellor, will be retiring in June. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar will take on the role July 1. The transitions in university leadership come at a time where college campuses across Texas and the nation are under increased scrutiny from lawmakers. A bill passed by the state Senate would limit how universities could teach about race and history, while another passed by the House would require schools including universities adopt a controversial definition of antisemitism. Those bills come in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests across university campuses in Texas and the United States last year, and as lawmakers continue to crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campuses. Milliken was one of several university leaders who testified during a 2024 state Senate subcommittee hearing aimed at ensuring campuses were complying with a 2023 ban on DEI offices and programs. 'Those degrees change the lives of our graduates for the better, absolutely. But they also change the trajectories of families and communities,' Milliken said in remarks to the UC Board of Regents during their meeting on Friday. 'Despite this, we know that confidence in higher education is at the lowest levels in the decades since it's been measured. Yet I remain firmly convinced that higher education is more important than at any point in our history.' Disclosure: Southern Methodist University, University of Texas at Austin and University of Texas System have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
University of California announced its 22nd president
( — The University of California Board of Regents has approved the appointment of James B. Milliken as the 22nd president of UC's world-renowned system of 10 campuses, six academic health centers, and three nationally affiliated laboratories. According to a statement released by the University of California, Milliken has been serving as the chancellor of the University of Texas since 2018. His career also includes serving as the chancellor of The City University of New York from 2014 to 2018, president of the University of Nebraska from 2004 to 2014, and senior vice president at the University of North Carolina from 1998 to 2004. 'The University of California is universally regarded as the preeminent public research university in the world, and I am deeply honored to have an opportunity to join the many talented faculty, staff, and campus leaders in their vital work. It is more important than ever that we expand the education, research, health care, and public service for which UC is so widely admired and which has benefited so many Californians,' said Milliken. UC officials stated that he is guided by his commitment to expand opportunities and student success. Milliken has been a leader in expanding access to high-education for low-income students. Grand Theft Auto VI release date pushed back to 2026, Rockstar says When he was the chancellor of UT, he held an initiative to cover the full cost of tuition and fees for students who qualified, which included families whose incomes were under $100,000. The UC said in their statement that Milliken's leadership at UT also included record-setting enrollment levels, low college debt, and almost $5 billion in annual research expenditures, ranking second in the nation. University of California President to step down at end of upcoming academic year 'Chancellor Milliken embodies the qualities and leadership experiences the University of California community needs at this moment,' said Janet Reilly, chair of the UC Board of Regents. 'He understands how critical UC's contributions are to the state and the country, and he has decades of experience leading public institutions during times of unprecedented change in higher education. Chancellor Milliken is simply the right person for UC at just the right time.' Milliken will be entering his new role in August with the board's approval salary of $1,475,000, said UC authorities. He will be taking over for President Drake, who has served as the University's president since 2020 and who announced he would step down in July. The six-month-long search for the University's systemwide leader started in November of last year, which was guided by criteria approved by the regents, said officials. The team was filled with stakeholders, including faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community partners. 'Serving on the search committee was a tremendous responsibility and an opportunity to represent student voices,' said Student Regent Josiah Beharry. 'Throughout this process, we were searching for more than just a leader — we were looking for someone who could speak the language of equity with action, who understands that affordability is not a privilege, but a promise. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
